Edeson Online News: 12/31/14

Wednesday 31 December 2014

POLITICS: Namadi Sambo and Gen Buhari fail to present their certificates to INEC

Nigeria's Vice President and running mate of President Goodluck Jonathan, Namadi Sambo and APC Presidential Candidate, Gen Muhammadu Buhari, have both failed to present their University Degree certificates to the Independent National Electoral Commission as part of documents to be tendered before the electoral commission by any aspirant Arc. Namadi Sambo who presented his nomination forms to INEC on Dec 10th stated in his form that his BSc and MSc certificates from his Alma mater, Ahmadu Bello University ABU got burnt in a fire incident. He however tendered a "To Whom It May Concern" letter from authorities of the ABU stating that he was a student of their school.

The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has released the names of the presidential candidates and their running mates who will contest the 2015 elections. Though there are 26 registered political parties in Nigeria, only 11 parties have submitted the names of their candidates so far and they are;

President Goodluck Jonathan on Tuesday said he did not expect Nigerians to shower praises on him while he is still in office. He said it was normal that public office holders would only be commended after leaving office by the time his achievements were being compared with others. Jonathan spoke while granting audience to a delegation from his home state, Bayelsa. Members of the delegation led by Governor Seriake Dickson were in the Presidential Villa, Abuja to felicitate with him on Christmas and New Year festivities. The President said notwithstanding the various challenges facing the country, he would do his best to make his people proud. He said, “I always say that I will not even expect praises now because hardly do people praise serving leaders. It is when you leave, people will begin to know. “When you leave, people will begin to compare what you have done over the period vis-a-vis what others

Nollywood actress Nkiru Syvanus is set to marry Stanley Duru, Oge Okoye's ex-husband and father of her two kids.Stanley was first Nkiru's boyfriend but while they were having issues he met Oge, she got pregnant and they did some kind of introduction. They broke up and now he's back in Nkiru's life. They were supposed to get married this past Saturday Dec. 27th but sources close to Nkiru say it didn't happen and that they will likely marry early 2015. Nkiru will eventually release a press statement to address the drama.

Now this is BIG! Oprah Winfrey is no longer the world’s richest black woman. That distinction now belongs to Nigerian oil baroness and fashionista, Folorunsho Alakija, Time reports.Alakija is worth at least $3.3 billion, about $300 million more than American television personality Oprah.

Nigeria is by far the world’s largest producer of yams, accounting for over 70–76 percent of the world production. According to the Food and Agricultural Organization report, in 1985, Nigeria produced 18.3 million tonnes of yam from 1.5 million hectares, representing 73.8 percent of total yam production in Africa According to 2008 figures, yam production in Nigeria has nearly doubled since 1985, with Nigeria producing 35.017 million metric tonnes with value equivalent of US$5.654 billion.In perspective, the world’s second and third largest producers of yams, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, only produced 6.9 and 4.8 tonnes of yams in 2008 respectively.

The Federal Government has declared January 2nd 2015 as public holiday to mark Eid el Maloud celebration. In a statement released today by the Minister of Interior affairs, Abba Moro, the Federal government asked Muslim faithfuls to offer prayers to God for the peace and Unity of Nigeria.